Bihar police have registered an FIR against senior BJP leader and Maharajganj MP Janardan Singh Sigriwal and several others for allegedly leading a mob which raided a police station and forcibly took away vehicles seized for violating various rules during Durga idol immersion.

The FIR was registered on Thursday evening at the Baniapur police station in Saran district where the incident occurred earlier in the day.

The police had seized two tractors from different immersion processions passing through the area. While one was using loudspeakers and very high-decibel music systems without a licence, the other was part of a procession taken out without permission from the administration.

“Both the vehicles were kept as exhibits at Baniapur police station campus. Later, a group of people entered the police station, entered into an argument with the police personnel present there and forcibly took them away. It was a criminal act. The station house officer (SHO), other officers and personnel were busy elsewhere in maintaining law and order,” a release issued by Saran police said.

Going through the footage from CCTV cameras installed at the police station, the officers identified the people involved in the act and discovered that Sigriwal had led them.

According to the police, Sigriwal kept sitting inside his vehicle outside the police station and sent the mob of anti-social elements inside to indulge in the crime.

“We have registered an FIR against 17 named persons, including Sigriwal, and several unidentified people. We are investigating the case,” Saran SP Gaurav Mangla told The Telegraph.

When asked about the incident and the FIR, the MP asserted that he and his associates were law-abiding citizens and accused the state government of implicating them as part of politics. “The Baniapur SHO had released the vehicles after obtaining written bonds from their owners. I do not know if this means forcibly taking away the vehicles from the police station. However, I do not blame the SP. He wrongfully got the FIR registered under pressure from the government,” Sigriwal said.

The MP asserted that government officials should not bow down so much to the pressure of the government, and should pay attention to the law and the rules.